Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Gartner (NYSE:IT) Stock Price

Gartner (NYSE:IT) had its target price upped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $560.00 to $564.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the information technology services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 10.92% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Gartner from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Gartner from $470.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Gartner from $565.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Gartner from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Gartner from $529.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $543.75.

Gartner Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of IT stock opened at $508.46 on Thursday. Gartner has a fifty-two week low of $411.15 and a fifty-two week high of $559.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $522.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $488.51. The stock has a market cap of $39.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31.

Gartner (NYSE:IT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The information technology services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.05. Gartner had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Gartner will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Gartner

In related news, EVP Claire Herkes sold 411 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.24, for a total transaction of $214,229.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,494 shares in the company, valued at $778,732.56. This represents a 21.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James C. Smith sold 10,000 shares of Gartner stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $535.76, for a total value of $5,357,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 554,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,957,838.24. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,583 shares of company stock valued at $19,241,974. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gartner

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Gartner in the second quarter worth $266,541,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Gartner by 22.0% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,897,328 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $852,014,000 after acquiring an additional 341,911 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Gartner in the 3rd quarter worth about $70,955,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Gartner by 117.4% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 200,097 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,856,000 after purchasing an additional 108,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Gartner during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,789,000. Institutional investors own 91.51% of the company’s stock.

Gartner Company Profile

Gartner, Inc operates as a research and advisory company in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Research, Conferences, and Consulting. The Research segment delivers its research primarily through a subscription service that include on-demand access to published research content, data and benchmarks, and direct access to a network of research experts.